Business fibre
Uncapped fibre internet for business on the network that serves your building, with the router configured, the service confirmed and billing and support carried by us.
Business fibre and fixed LTE for organisations
Business fibre is a fibre internet service built for organisations, sold with business support and service commitments that home fibre lacks. Arke Technologies supplies business fibre and fixed LTE across South Africa through Fibre Boyz, the internet service provider we have run since 2017, and supports the line with your network, firewall and Wi-Fi.
What business fibre is, and why it matters
Business fibre, or fibre to the business, is an internet connection over a fibre-optic line into your premises, sold with commitments a home service does not carry: lower contention, a written service-level agreement, static IP addresses and business support. Fibre for business and fibre for homes often share the same network in the street; the difference lies in how the service is built, sold and supported. Our guide to business fibre vs home fibre compares them side by side.
Fixed LTE is the wireless alternative: a 4G router fixed to one address on a mobile network. It connects quickly where fibre has not arrived, and makes a sensible backup where it has.
Business internet is now the utility every system depends on: cloud accounting, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, Teams and VoIP calls, card payments, online sales and marketing, remote access to your servers, and the backups that protect them. When the line stops, so does the organisation. That is why we treat connectivity as part of the IT estate, alongside network infrastructure, rather than as a separate purchase.
Our business fibre packages and connectivity services
Fixed LTE for business
Where fibre has not yet reached a site, or as a second link on a different technology from the primary line.
Backup links and failover
A second connection on a different network, with a firewall that switches over automatically. For many sites, see SD-WAN and site connectivity.
Routers, firewalls and Wi-Fi
The equipment behind the line, designed and managed by our team. See business Wi-Fi and firewalls and network security.
Backup power for the network
The fibre terminal, router and switches on a UPS, so your side of the connection rides through load-shedding.
One bill, one number
Connectivity can be bundled into your support contract, so one supplier carries the whole stack. See managed IT services.
Homes and home offices
Uncapped home fibre, mesh Wi-Fi and smart-home setups, sold directly by Fibre Boyz (opens fibreboyz.co.za).
Which networks we connect on
Much of South Africa's fibre is open access. A fibre network operator builds and owns the fibre in the street, and internet service providers sell services over it, so one building can often choose between several networks and many providers. We connect business fibre on networks including Openserve (part of Telkom), Vuma (formerly Vumatel) and Frogfoot, and on others where they reach your building. Fixed LTE runs on major mobile networks, and we confirm signal and coverage at the exact address before we recommend it.
That is why a search for uncapped fibre deals in my area gives different answers from one street to the next: availability depends on which networks have built to your address. Whether you are comparing Openserve business fibre, Vuma uncapped fibre deals or the best ISP in Cape Town, the first question is the same: which networks reach the building, and how well. Check an address at fibreboyz.co.za (opens fibreboyz.co.za), or send us a list of sites and we will check them all. For offices in the Western Cape, see our page on IT services in Cape Town.
Uncapped fibre: meaning, deals and the small print
What is uncapped fibre? Uncapped means the service has no monthly data limit, so you are not cut off or charged extra for using more. The uncapped fibre meaning stops there: it says nothing about speed at busy times, fault repair or support. When you compare uncapped fibre deals or uncapped fibre packages, read these:
- The fair use policy. Fibre uncapped deals, and fixed LTE uncapped packages in particular, can carry a policy that slows the line after a usage threshold.
- Shaping and throttling. Unshaped means no type of traffic is slowed; unthrottled means your speed is not cut after heavy use.
- Contention. How many users share the capacity, which decides month-end and afternoon performance.
- Upload speed. Cloud backups, video calls and remote access need upload capacity, which is where home packages are thinnest.
- The contract term. Uncapped fibre deals month to month give flexibility; longer terms can lower the monthly price or cover installation. Check the notice period and cancellation costs either way.
- Support. Who answers, during which hours, and how a fault is escalated.
Cheap uncapped fibre deals are built for households and rarely include what an organisation needs when the line fails. The cheapest uncapped fibre deals on paper can cost the most over a contract term, because one day offline for a finance team at month-end, a clinic or a school office outweighs the monthly saving. Fixed LTE deals follow the same logic: read the fair use policy and confirm coverage at the exact address.
How to choose an internet service provider for business
What internet providers are there, and what internet services do they sell? Three kinds of company sit behind every connection: fibre network operators, which build and own the fibre; mobile network operators such as MTN, Vodacom and Telkom, which run the LTE and 5G networks; and internet service providers, which sell and support the service you use. As a service provider of internet for business, we sit in the third group and choose the network for each site.
Internet providers in South Africa are many, and lists of the best ISP in South Africa or the best internet provider rarely agree, because the best internet company for one address can be a poor choice for another. For an organisation, the best ISP is the one that:
- serves your address on a network with a good record there;
- puts support hours, fault logging and escalation in writing;
- states contention and upload speed in the contract, not only in the advert;
- offers a backup link on a different network or technology;
- gives you the router and firewall credentials;
- sends one bill and answers one number, instead of a network operator, an ISP and an IT company pointing at each other;
- belongs to the Internet Service Providers' Association of South Africa (ISPA) and follows its Code of Conduct.
Arke Technologies, trading as Fibre Boyz, is a member of ISPA and is bound by its Code of Conduct.
Business internet security
Every connection into a building is also a way in. Business internet security starts at the line:
- a managed firewall at the edge, patched and monitored, with only the ports you need open;
- DNS and web filtering that blocks known malicious sites, and content filtering for schools;
- VPNs for remote staff and site-to-site links, with multi-factor authentication;
- separate networks for staff, guests, cameras and payment systems;
- router and firewall credentials changed from their defaults and recorded in your documentation.
See our cybersecurity services for the wider programme.
Why business fibre costs more, and how we quote
Business fibre costs more than home fibre because the provider commits more: capacity shared among fewer users or reserved for you, faults handled to written targets, business support and, sometimes, new fibre built to the building. The main price drivers are the network that serves your address, the speed and symmetry, the contention, the contract term, any build or installation charge, and whether you add a backup link.
We do not publish connectivity prices here, because they depend on your address, the network and the service level. Business fibre deals advertised online rarely show the whole cost of a critical site. Fibre Boyz quotes per premises, and for organisations we support, the line can sit inside the managed IT contract.
Governance, compliance and procurement
- Governance and reporting. Connectivity faults are logged and prioritised from P1, a critical outage, to P4, a low-impact request, with targets agreed in your SLA and reported in the monthly service review. Firewall and routing changes go through change control. See IT governance, risk and compliance.
- Compliance. Firewalled, monitored connections support POPIA's requirement (section 19) for reasonable technical measures to protect personal information, and public bodies get documentation that suits PFMA and MFMA audits.
- Procurement fit. Arke Technologies (Pty) Ltd is a Level 1 B-BBEE contributor (sworn affidavit available on request), giving buyers 135% procurement recognition. Company documents, our CSD supplier number and SARS tax compliance status are available on request. Buy on a quotation and purchase order, on a proposal and SLA, or through a tender, for which we complete the standard bidding documents (SBD forms).
- Continuity. A single office and a multi-site network run on the same documentation and support model, with a backup link on a different network for critical sites. Router and firewall credentials, IP address records and network documentation are yours, so a change of provider never strands you.